I gussied up a doll and took (badly lit) photos. The Xian Xian trenchcoat I ordered arrived and it is so well made! Very detailed. It has plaid lining, cute buttons, and a buckled belt.
I found that the stand that is made for these dolls is too short for her. It’s a straddle and gets nowhere close enough to the crotch to support her, so she fell over several times. She’s 2026. Did their legs get longer?
Here are some bad, repetitive photos. I was playing with iPhone camera’s basic, Jurassic-era filters and adjustments while trying to fix these. I can’t find a free app where all the decent effects aren’t locked behind a Premium sub. If anyone passes by this and knows of one, please clue me in. PLEASE.
I figured things would look better up close. She has a gorgeous face and cute freckles!
Her clothes got out of place in the ones with the Paris background, which I didn’t notice.
Bleh. I’m redoing these. 😐 The outfit is too pretty to only have bad pictures.
Now, on to Miss Independence!
That’s a cool box.
And here she is!
It’s off and there are a bunch of stray hairs. I’m bad at fixing doll hair. I’m bad at fixing my hair. There’s already a gallon of product on there so I guess a teensy bit of hair gel wouldn’t hurt?
I’m not going to try fixing that yet.
That’s all for Miss Independence today. I’ll update when she’s dressed. I’m going for a smart pantsuit ala late 60s early 70s. Earth tones with a pop of colour in the form of a neck scarf, earrings, and maybe a bright blouse peeking out from her jacket.
To not increase my backlog, here are a few more things.
Look who I found at Wally World last week!
I need to get the Jem & the Holograms boxset.
There was a Carmen Sandiego doll, also Hasbro, beside Jem…but I was so underwhelmed by it, which is a shame. I played Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? on our PC a LOT when I was a kid. If a nice Carmen doll exists, I need to know!
I’ve been working on something and have been gathering clothing and dolls, mostly sourced from Aliexpress. I don’t believe I’ve made mention of my love of Spy movies and tv shows. I have always loved Bond movies. Pierce Brosnan was the 007 I grew up with. One of my favourite shows was Get Smart. I noticed some of those mass produced outfits that are all over Aliexpress and thought I would create two spy babes from those cheap outfits, which are actually pretty nice. I remembered the old Spy vs. Spy strip that was in every issue of MAD magazine I ever bought. There’s Black Spy and White Spy, and they are perpetually trying to kill one another. The same outfits come in both monochrome colours and I decided to create the characters and do a photoshoot (that sounded very pretentious lol) based on the comic strip. I later decided to do more with the characters when I finish that one. I wanted to stage a number of stereotypical 60s spy movie scenes. I wanted a Bond type guy to add to the scenes. I looked around for a good tux, but that is so difficult if you’re trying to find something that fits a Ken. I found nothing that satisfied my criteria. I consulted Google’s AI, Gemini, which is a fantastic tool for planning projects and finding things. I was pointed to eBay where I got punched in the wallet just a little. I purchased a replica white Bond tux and the headless body it fit. I thought about which Ken I wanted to decapitate. I decided on my Jasper Hale. He’s so pretty 😭
Tuxedo, body, and Jasper’s pretty head are waiting in a bag until I stop being a wuss about modifications. The body definitely does not match his Vampiric skintone, but it’s going to be totally covered.
I still have months of backlog to gather up and post. I’m a bit hesitant to post some of my photography because the lack of accessories for the dolls makes the outfits feel incomplete. It’s unsatisfying to look at. I’ve got some jewelry on the way but there’s also the problem of getting bangles on most dolls. I have only two dolls with hands I know can be removed. I also don’t feel like heating and removing a head just to put a necklace on. Everything I bought recently have some sort of clasp. I was nervous about getting the pearls on Baguette Lady up there. I was sure the elastic would break, but it didn’t.
Anyhoo, I’ll update about these while I work on them.
Feel free to drop a comment and tell me what you think!
The Nostalgic Hobbyist 